MILF members sign up for 2016 polls

MAGUIDANAO Philippines — Moro rebels on Saturday registered as voters in preparation for the 2016 elections in the proposed Bangsamoro territory they expect to be established before yearend.

The activity, held at the compound of the Bangsamoro Leaders Management Institute in Simuay District in Sultan Kudarat town, was facilitated by poll personnel led by lawyer Udtog Tago, provincial election supervisor of Maguindanao.

Tago was assisted by Diocesan priest Dave Procalla, regional chairman for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), representatives of the joint government-MILF ceasefire committee and the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT).

The listing process was also observed by PPCRV's national chairperson, Henrietta De Villa, and senior officials of the IMT, a multinational peacekeeping contingent helping oversee since late 2003 the July 1979 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities between the government and the MILF.

Among the hundreds that had their names listed on the ARMM's book of voters was Von Al-Haq, spokesman of the MILF's military arm, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, and his immediate subordinates.

Al-Haq, an ethnic Maguindanaon, said he and his companions looks forward to a peaceful exercise of their right of suffrage in the first ever Bangsamoro elections in 2016.

The enabling measure for the creation of the new Bangsamoro political entity, the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law, is still pending in Congress, stalled by the controversy sparked by the deadly January 25, 2015 encounter between police commandos and MILF members in three barangays in Mamasapano, Maguindanao.

Al-Haq said they are confident the deliberations on the proposed law, also meant to legitimize the deactivation of ARMM to pave the way for a Bangsamoro government, will soon resume.

Also present at the registration site were Commissioner Al Parreño of the Commission on Elections and ARMM's regional election director, lawyer Ray Sumalipao.

The special registration for MILF members was carried out based on Comelec's Resolution 14-0890, in support of the rebel group's commitment to change from a revolutionary organization into a political party with socio-economic facets.

The MILF forged a peace deal with government, the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro, on March 27, 2014.

The peace accord binds the national government and the MILF to bilaterally establish a Bangsamoro government whose first electoral exercise is to supposedly take place simultaneous with the 2016 synchronized local and presidential elections.

In a statement Saturday, ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman said the registration of voters from the ranks of the MILF is a big boost to the Mindanao peace process.

"Politics and governance are now the best means of fighting for reforms, peace and development. Use of guns in seeking redress is barbaric," Hataman said.